The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, has disclosed that significant reconciliation has been achieved between the Kussasi and Mamprusi communities in towns affected by the long-standing chieftaincy dispute.

Otumfuo Osei Tutu II made the remarks while presenting the Bawku Peace Mediation Report to President John Mahama at the Jubilee House on Tuesday.

According to the Asantehene, the mediation committee decided to engage chiefs of the various towns and communities affected by the withdrawal of traditional recognition following the implementation of the Governor-General’s White Paper in 1957, the NLC Decree 112, and subsequent legislations, including PNDC Law 75.

He explained that after extensive consultations with traditional leaders in the affected areas, the committee concluded that meaningful reconciliation has taken place between the Kussasis and Mamprusis in all the other towns.

The Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II charged the government to decisively enforce the existing laws that recognise Zugraan Naba Asigri Abugrago Azoka II as the legitimate Chief of Bawku and head of the Kusasi Traditional Area.

The Asantehene, in delivering the committee’s report, anchored his ultimate recommendation not only on traditional diplomacy or compromise but on the Constitution of Ghana and the Supreme Court’s final judicial determination of the matter.

Addressing the President and his delegation, the Asantehene stressed that no traditional leader, regardless of their status, is above the law.

“We chiefs, no matter how exalted, do not live above the constitution of Ghana and the laws duly enacted and affirmed by the courts.”

He explicitly called upon Naa Mahami Abdulai Sheriga, the Nayiri (Overlord of Mamprugu), who has in recent years attempted to install a rival chief in Bawku, to accept the legal reality as presently constituted.

“The final recommendation, Mr. President, I recommend that my brother, the Nayiri, accept the laws as presently constituted as Asigri Abugrago Azoka II, the chief of Bawku and head chief of the Kusasi traditional area.”